Against The Norm
by violet-phoenix-rose
Summary: For the Forbidden Love challenge. Every instinct she has says she should like someone else, but 15-year-old Andromeda Black doesn't care. Rating for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: For the Forbidden Love challenge. Probably going to be a short multi-chapter - 5 or so chapters max.

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It started as I got on the train at the start of my fifth year of school. Among the sea of people at the train station, one in particular stood out to me, a Muggle-born in my year whom I was pretty sure was called Ted - not like I was ever any good with names, especially those of non-Slytherins. I had a small reputation as the only Slyth with a heart, though my charming sisters were against this, but I pleased my sisters by sticking within my house where friends and (if I'd been interested) boys were concerned. Yes, my closest friend was a Ravenclaw, but our mothers were friends so Bella and Cissa didn't try to intervene.

"Drom! There you are!" My aforementioned best friend, Claudia Octavian, came rushing toward me, happily dangling an owl cage from her left hand. Claudia's parents weren't fond of her being in Ravenclaw (what self-respecting pureblood parent would be?), so it had taken a fair bit of lobbying for her to get an owl of her own.

"Have a nice summer, Claude?" I asked, trying to take my eyes off the boy.

"Nice? Is that humanly possible when my mum's on the matchmaking warpath? God, I'm fifteen-and-a-half, and she thinks I ought to be seriously considering the merits of various boys in our year. Wait till I tell her my life's ambition is to be a Healer, which I'll probably do over Christmas - you'll probably be able to hear her all the way at your place." Claudia talked too much, but thankfully she realized that my eyes were simultaniously glazed over and focused on something else. "Whatcha staring at, Drom?"

"That boy over there," I whispered, pointing to the one in question. "Do you recognize him?"

"I think he's called Ted," Claude chirped. "Beyond that, I know nothing, Just be happy your sisters aren't anywhere near... speak of the devil, here they come!"

I looked behind me and saw my sisters stampeding towards me. To make things even worse, Bella (who barely approved of me hanging out with Claudia) got to us first. "Andromeda, how many times am I going to have to tell you that spending time with people like her isn't any good for you?" Bella snapped, acting like Claudia wasn't there.

"Really, Andie, if Mum knew, you'd be in scads of trouble," Cissa added. She was thirteen and served as a pet parakeet for Bella on an as-needed basis. If Bella was snapping at me, Cissa was backing her up, no matter what.

"Mum does know that Claudia's my best friend at school," I said defensively, "and she doesn't mind. She likes the Octavians - you two know she does - and she'll have a field day over your behavior if she hears about it."

Usually Bella would fight until she won, but she knew I was in the right this time. "All right, Andromeda, I'll leave you and your friend alone," she said haughtily, turning to leave. "I'll say this much, though - date a boy from outside our House, and you may not even live to regret it."

As soon as Bella and Cissa were out of view, I got such a look on my face that Claudia almost shuddered. "You're not going to date a Gryffindor or something just to piss her off, are you?" Claudia asked me.

"No," I replied, "but if I fall for someone, I'm not going to care what House they're in, Bella be damned."


	2. Chapter 2

On the first proper day of the school term, things got much, much worse - or so they seemed. Like we always did, Claudia and I compared our class lists the moment we got them. "We're in nearly all the same classes," Claudia said happily once we'd finished. "The only things we've got seperate are Transfiguration, Herbology, and Astronomy."

"Oh joy," I muttered, knowing how bad this would go. "I'm willing to bet my House will be with the Gryffindors in Transfiguration or maybe Astronomy and with the Hufflepuffs in the other two classes."

"You're forgetting Herbology, Drom," Claudia laughed as she playfully flicked my hair. "You could get stuck with the Red-and-Gold Express in there, you know."

"Not likely, given what happened with my sister's year last year..." my voice trailed off, since I didn't need to tell that story. The short version, the one that doesn't go into the extremely violent aspects of it, was that Bella and a few of the Slyth boys in her year decided it would be 'fun' to stage an ambush of sorts right before Herbology. Sufficient to say, two things happened - three Gryffins and one Slyth (the only girl Bella got to do the ambush) ended up in the hospital wing (the Slyth girl for two days and one of the Gryffins for two weeks), and Professor Abrin, who had taught Herbology for ten years, took early retirement.

"Oh, I kinda forgot about that," Claudia replied. "So let's see... you've got Transfiguration and I've got Herbology, and then we've got double Charms together. Lucky us - we'll get to compare notes on who we're with for those classes while Thurax lectures about some random spell we're never going to need." Professor Thurax, who was also the Head of Claudia's House, was the most easy-going professor the school had ever had. If a pair of girls was to start into a gossip session while he was explaining something, for example, he'd simply nod at them before continuing on.

"Joy - you get to repot some random, potentially venemous plant; I get to turn parrots into books of paper," I called as we went our seperate ways. Having a Claw for a best friend was, though Bella thought otherwise, quite an asset. For one thing, Claudia would never tell a single soul anything about me unless I gave her permission to do so, which was never going to happen. I trusted Claudia with things even my family didn't know - at least I would if there was anything in that category - and she was sworn to secrecy on a lot of the things I'd told her.

As luck would have it, I ended up being rather early for Transfiguration - which is to say that when I got in the classroom, the only other people in it were Professor McGonagall and the boy I'd noticed at the train station. "Ah, Miss Black, shockingly early," McGonagall said when she saw me. She could remember anyone's name, from the pureblood almost-royalty (aka Bella's friends) to the little Muggle-born first-years, who had a scum-of-the-earth reputation usually. "Could you be so kind as to put a chameleon cage on each desk?"

If I'd been more like Bella, which (thank heaven) I was not, I would have snapped back and told her to have the boy do it. Since I was a lot nicer than that, as well as a little scared of Professor McGonagall, I did as I was told. I didn't know why the woman scared me - she was younger than my mother and had started teaching the year before Bella started school - but there was something about her that set me on edge.

As I placed the chameleon cages, I did so in a way that my steps were a spiral, circling around the room towards the center desk, the one that the boy sat at. The chameleon cages weren't that horribly large, so I managed to get eight at a time - until I had to get a third set. There were ten left, and I figuredthat if I could manage to get eight in my arms at a time, ten wouldn't be that hard. Of course, my luck wasn't as good as I thought - though I usually had impeccable balance, I tripped after a few awkward paces and sent ten chameleon cages flying through the room.

As I stumbled to my feet, the boy somehow caught all seven cages that didn't land on a desk. Once I was standing again, trying to regain my composure and be dignified, the boy just _had_ to make things more interesting - instead of handing the cages back to me, which I'd expected, he took over where I'd left off, placing them where they needed to be. By now, the other students were entering, and I did what I thought best under the circumstances - I glided to a desk near the back of the room and motioned for Phoebe Lefay to sit next to me. Phoebe was a casual friend, the sort of girl Bella thought I should spend more time with and (under normal circumstances) not someone I'd go out of my way to deal with. In this situation, though, Phoebe the clueless was cover, no more and no less.

"What's with you, Andromeda?" Phoebe asked me as she slipped into the desk next to mine. "You look beet-red - something happen with that boy, maybe?" Phoebe had only one non-Slyth-like trait, which was that she was a notorious school gossip and, due to that, the last person one would tell if one rather liked a boy who was one's polar opposite - which, unfortunantely for me, I did.

"Like I'm speaking to you about that," I said, smirking a little. Phoebe would probably take my comment as confirmation, but she usually didn't talk about people unless she had concrete details. Even if she had every detail in the world, she probably wouldn't have said too much about me, though - like nearly every other girl at school, she was a fair bit scared of Bella, and Bella would probably get a little ticked-off at Phoebe if anything about me came out of the mouth of that girl.

The class was... boring would probably be the only word to describe it. Afterwards, as I tried to beat the tide of people exiting the room, I felt a hand tap my shoulder. "Are you okay?" a voice said. I turned my head and saw - horror of horrors - the boy.

In a state of panic, I did the exact same thing that Bella did whenever someone got on her nerves. "I would so like to hurt you right now," I snapped, storming away in a very bad mood. God, love was complicated! As if liking the one boy I should never have liked wasn't bad or confusing enough - which it was - now I'd accidentally acted like I didn't care, and he'd seemed to believe me. Yet as I explained all this to Claudia later that day, I was reminded of one of the most crucial lessons of all - nothing is ever what it seems.

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A/N: Things get more interesting...


	3. Chapter 3

I seem to remember that the rest of that school term was a blur. It _was_ fifth year, so everyone was on-edge - most people didn't even think they had time to care about who was going out with who, which was just as well. Our year wasn't really into relationships yet anyways, so instead of chasing down the people we liked, we watched the damage the sixth- and seventh-years did. And oh, it was damage! The only thing in that school year that stands out to me was that Bella went out with a boy who I think had the last name of Rookwood for two weeks and then, after some counsel from our mother, decided he had to go. Since this was Bella, she got rid of the boy in the most dramatic way possible - by staging a shouting match with him right outside the Hog's Head during the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year.

I continued to watch the boy - Ted - from afar, avoiding him on the rare occasions our paths really crossed. According to Claudia, who was still getting daily updates on the situation and who had an excellent memory for everything I told her, I spoke to the boy twice during that school term, even though Claude spent a good bit of time trying to convince me that avoidance would get me nowhere. Finally, on the school train on the way home for Christmas holidays, she decided enough was enough. "Drom," she said once we were in a compartment, "if you like the guy, then why are you acting like he doesn't exist."

"You know what Bella and her lot would do to me if they so much as caught me looking at him," I replied breathlessly, thankful that the other persons in our compartment were a trio of first- or second-year Claws. "To say it would not go well is the biggest understatement in the world, Claude, and you know it. I'm doing all I can do without risking anything."

"You know what I think?" Claudia replied. "The problem, Drom, is that he's the only boy you can't have and it kills you. You probably could get any boy at school, and yet the one you like is _the_ most unacceptable boyfriend material ever, according to your sister and her crones, and therefore you're trying to convince yourself you don't like him because you don't want to risk anything. Love is about risk, Drom - if it's easy, then what's the point?"

I hated to admit it to myself, but Claudia was right. I was going to have to face facts sooner or later - I loved that boy, at least I was pretty sure I did, and I wasn't going to let his background stop me. I had an idea, of course - keep things secret for the rest of the school year, and then go for it the next year, when Bella wouldn't be around to make my life a living hell because I liked the wrong boy. When I explained this idea to Claudia, however, she started laughing.

"Really, Drom, I can't believe you," she laughed. "One second you're admitting that you think this guy might be the one, and then the next you're saying that you're going to hold off on trying to go out with him because you want to save your own skin. Make up your mind. Decide if you think he's worth it, and if he is, that Bella's attempts at setting you up with the appropriate kind of boy can go to hell, along with her and the type of guy she thinks you need. It's your life, Drom, not hers, and I'm not going to let you risk your own happiness because it's safer that way."

Once again, Claudia understood my situation better than I did. "After Christmas," I finally said, not caring about what anyone else thought any more. "After Christmas, I am going to walk up to him and have a proper conversation with him, maybe even try to flirt a little."

"Talking to him is a spectacular idea," Claudia smirked, "but trying to flirt? You're liable to get yourself and everyone in a thirty-meter radius hurt if you try to flirt with anyone, period."

I let Claudia have the last word. Taking relationship advice from someone who avoided boys like the plague might not have been the most ingenious idea ever, but Claudia was the only person I could talk to about that stuff. And what was the worst that could happen? Yes, he could probably say that he wouldn't go out with me if I was the last girl alive, but I wasn't betting on that. In fact, I had a certain feeling that mutual attraction would be the endpoint of our interaction.

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A/N: sorry I haven't updated in a while - life got crazy again. As always, please review and thank you for reading this randomness.


	4. Chapter 4

The Christmas holidays were, if not good, then better than expected. I was left pretty well alone for most of them, as my mother was on a matchmaking kick for Bella. If my dear darling older sister had actually been in possession of a heart, I would've felt sorry for her; as it was, I felt she deserved to get dragged to all sorts of formal parties. The only time I really got noticed was the day before going back to school, when Mother decided I needed some new clothes and Bella decided to come along for the ride and 'help'. Our trio spent the whole day in and out of the finest Wizarding shops, and I will keep my comments about the garments they purchased for me contained in one statement - I have never seen uglier pastel-and-ruffley things in my life.

I was wearing a particularly unflattering getup the next day, which had the unexpected benefit of making Claudia pull me into a compartment the very moment she saw me. Once the door was shut, she panicked as only she could. "What the hell are you _wearing_, Drom?" she exclaimed, and I think there were people on the other end of the train who heard her. "It looks like a wedding cake exploded into a blouse and skirt!"

"That seems to be the general idea," I muttered, feeling a little self-concious. "Look, Mother decided it was high time I looked like a proper young lady, Bella decided to help with the shopping... you get the picture." I chose not to mention that Bella herself, after the fight to end all fights the summer beforehand, never wore anything brighter than forest green. Needless to say, it hadn't gotten me anywhere when I'd tried to use it as an excuse to avoid the shopping trip.

"Were it not for the fact that she'd curse me to hell and back if I tried, I'd so be tempted to try to deck Bella the next time I see her," Claudia laughed. She apparently saw my older sister's ideas of what I should wear as a bit of a joke. "Okay, what'd you do to make her inflict this kind of torture on you? Tease her about dancing a little too close to someone at a party, maybe?"

Claudia's ability to take anything lightly was really starting to annoy me. She knew perfectly well that I lived in terror of my older sister, and her humor wasn't funny anymore. "No, actually," I muttered, almost whispering. We'd been joined by the same trio of Claw second-years we'd had to put up with on the way back from school for the Christmas holidays. "I'm afraid she suspects I like someone I shouldn't, if you catch my drift."

"Are you serious?" Claudia yelled. "I mean, you can't even tell me the depths of it, and Bella, she who lives to make your life hell, might know?!? This is too strange."

We traveled in silence for the next hour or so, until Claudia's face suddenly glowed with an idea. "I recommend you get your school robes on now," she whispered to me, eyebrows raised.

I knew how Claudia worked, and right then and there, I was guessing that she thought I should go out in the hallway. "A certain person is out there, am I right?" I asked, double-checking details - that was just safer with Claudia around.

"Yeah," she smirked, "and he's alone."

With that, I quickly grabbed my school robes and slipped out into the hallway. Claudia had been dead right - Ted was about ten paces from me and headed my direction, and there was no one else in sight. I stood motionless, wishing I knew what to do if he was to approach me. As is probably glaringly obvious, my experience with boys was nonexistent, and all I did know was eight different and dramatic ways to break up with someone - and that I only knew because I'd watched Bella systematically get rid of each and every Slyth boy in her year.

At the exact second Ted was within a yard of me, fate's bizarre sense of humor acted again. The train hit a bump, and for the second time in the space of four months in the prescence of that boy, I went flying. This was even better than the last time, I would say if I was being sarcastic - along with falling to the floor myself, I managed to knock him over as well. I was not an accident-prone young woman, but this was ridiculous, especially the timing.

"Are you alright?" The next thing I knew, a hand had been reached out to me, and it helped me get back up. Yes, the voice belonged to the boy, but this time I wasn't going to try to get him to bug off. It'd be hard, yes, but like Claudia had told me before the holidays - love is always worth the risk.

"I guess so," I stammered, getting back on my feet. "Odd how I always seem to fall when I see you, isn't it?" I wasn't sure how he would take my remark, but it was exactly the kind of thing Claudia would say if she was in my situation and she bothered with boys.

"You're called Andromeda, am I right?" He looked straight at me, a stare that embodied curiousity, waiting for an answer.

"Yes," I somehow managed to say, though I was beginning to panic. This was just so awkward in an indescribable kind of way that I had no idea what I was doing. "And you're called Ted, I think."

"Strange," he said. "We've barely met, and it's like we know each other already."

My face turned fifteen shades of pink and red then, and I was a little worried what he would think. According to Phoebe Lefay, who I'd used as cover about thirteen times over the previous few months and therefore spent a lot of time talking to, blushing is the most obvious way to accidentally tell someone you like them. I'd gone and done that, and I was mentally cursing myself for it even though I'd had no control over my reaction whatsoever.

"Yes," I said, basically whispering. "That is rather strange."

He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't manage to speak. At that exact moment, who should come storming down the corridor but my lovely sister, Bella herself. She had a foul look on her face that shifted into a piercing glare when she saw me and what I was doing. You see, in my state of nervous panic, I'd rather forgotten to let go of Ted's hand, and I had only just noticed this fact.

"Andromeda Black, what in the name of all good things are you _doing_?" Bella roared, and it was a frightening sight. Somehow she was glaring at Ted and focusing on me at the same time, which almost scared me. "How many times must I tell you not to associate with this _scum_?" She flicked her hand at Ted, clearly indicating that she thought he was lower than dirt.

"He's not scum," I said bravely, clutching his hand instinctively, "and besides that, you've never seen me within ten feet of him before." I was worried now. Bella was not a person to be trifled with, and she wouldn't hesitate to hurt me or the boy if she was so inclined. Family never mattered to her, at least not when that family was an actually decent person like I was.

"Not personally," she snapped, "but I've heard things. Phoebe Lefay says you spend at least a third of every Transfiguration class looking at him - is this true?" By now, my right hand was reaching for my wand pocket, then pulling it out - no such thing as too careful when dealing with Bella. To my horror, Ted hadn't even considered the chance of a fight or worse - one of the failings of those who are Hufflepuffs, I suppose.

"Phoebe Lefay is a gossip, a spy, and desperate for attention," I replied, trying to defend myself verbally. "She'll say anything if she thinks it'll stir up trouble. But yes, I am afraid I must say that in this case, she is right." Now I'd gone and done it. Mentioning that I spent a lot of time staring at the exact boy I wasn't supposed to love - in his presence, no less!

"Then let me say this, dear sister," Bella said sharply, turning the full effect of her glare on me now. "If I see you with this boy again, and even more so if you become something with him, if you blindly believe he is meant to be yours, mark my words - you will pay. I will not hesitate to hurt one or both of you if I am so inclined or if the situation is right. This boy is everything our parents have always told us is meant to be despised in a human being, and I will not let you ruin your life because you believe you love him. Love! Hah! Love is but a feeling that is easily deluded and easily lost, and it is not worthy to be felt by people like us." With that, she swept away, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.

"So was she right?" the boy asked me several moments after Bella was out of sight. "Do you..."

It was the words unsaid that I wanted to say, and it was those very words that I knew would sign my death warrant. "You interest me," I said. "You're not like the idiots Bella thinks I should go out with, and I rather like that. Oh hell, I love it, and I don't care what anyone thinks of me because of it!"

"Why can't we be together?" If there was a five-word phrase that I never thought I'd have to answer, he'd just said it. "You interest me too, and the way you seem to trip when you see me is... endearing."

"Together," I repeated, savoring the taste of the word. "How about this - I'll find you sometime, or you'll find me, and we'll just talk. Nothing official - Bella would find out, and she'd kill us both, which doesn't appeal to me."

With that, I slipped back into my compartment. No one was going to hear about what had just happened, especially Claudia - at least not yet. Some things were just meant to be secret.

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A/N: Keeps getting better... Sorry it's been so long since I've updated; life is crazy and all that. I've had this chapter on my computer for about forever and finally I'm posting it; hopefully I'll remember to update sooner next time.


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